National Treasure: Mystery of the Challenger
by rottieluv77
Summary: The third story in my treasure series. The treasure hunting team is at it again! But what treasure are they searching for this time? And what happens when the bad guys get involved? Will they find the treasure, or die in the process? Find out in National Treasure: Mystery of the Challenger!
1. Prologue

**So...I'm _finally_ posting my third treasure story! Hope you guys enjoy!**

* * *

**National Treasure: The Mystery of the Challenger**

**Prologue**

It was a quiet Thursday evening. I had gotten home from a busy day at work, and had cooked dinner. After dinner, I went into the living room to relax, while Riley cleaned the kitchen and sixteen-year-old Chloe was doing her homework.

About thirty minutes had passed, and Riley had just joined me in the living room when Chloe walked into the room. With her laptop in hand, she sat on the couch and said, "Mom, I need your help with a project."

"Alright, Chlo'," I replied. "What's the project?"

"Well, it's for comp," Chloe began. "I have to write a story about a legend and what it would be like if it were true. Since I've already written stories about you guys finding the Templar Treasure and the City of Gold, I was wondering if there were any other treasure hunts that you guys went on. Don't worry, I'll make the story a little different," she winked.

"Hmm," I thought. "There was one that actually happened in your life time; when you were two. Did we tell you about that one?"

"No!" Chloe replied excitedly. "The only ones you told me about were the Templar Treasure and Cibola!"

"If your mother is going to tell you this story Chloe," Riley began, "you better take notes!"

"I will," Chloe sighed.

"Alright," I began, "so here it goes…"


	2. Introduction

**Chapter 1: Introduction**

In the first two years of my marriage with Riley, things had been pretty busy. Riley had been writing his book, I was trying to finish out college and start my job, and then we throw finding Cibola into the mix. We hardly had time to focus on spending time together, much less even _thinking _about having a child. However, once things had become to calm down after finding Cibola, Riley and I began thinking about said issue, and we began to try to have kids. We tried for two consecutive months with absolutely no success.

That is, until two months later in June. On Riley's 30th birthday, June 18, 2009, I found out I was pregnant. Nine months later, on March 23 of the following year, little Chloe was born, almost a year after finding Cibola. After Chloe, Riley and I tried to have more kids, but never could. So we devoted our time and energy to our only daughter. Riley, who didn't have a job at that point, stayed home with Chloe while I would go to work. If we wanted to go on a trip, we usually took her. She rarely was left with her Uncle Ben and Aunt Abigail. When Chloe was two, however, things began to change.

It began one, event-free Thursday afternoon in July. Riley and Ben had decided to come down to the Library of Congress over mine and Abigail's lunch break, since Ben had to look up some stuff about Greece for a lecture he was doing at George Washington University the next day. Riley and Ben arrived at around 12:30, after they dropped off Chloe at my friend Addie Walker's for a play date with her son, Brennan.

"Hey Ri," I said walking over to greet Riley and Ben.

"Hey Ben," Abigail said hugging Ben.

"How has your day been?" I asked, as I know Ben had gone over to my house previously for Riley's help with his lecture presentation.

"Uh, well…interesting," Ben replied.

"That's a nice way of putting it," Riley commented. "While we were my office, Chloe decides that pale is the new tan, so she takes off her clothes-luckily-and dumps the rest of the flour in the container all over herself. _Then_ she decides that pale isn't a good look anymore, and opens a tin of chocolate icing, and smears half of it all over herself. What she doesn't use on herself, she uses to paint the floor in the kitchen. Then your daughter uses those lovely musical abilities that she got from you, and plays drums with the pots and pans on the icing-covered floor. That's how I knew to go check on this little monster, and this is the scene I walked into when I got into the kitchen."

He pulled out his phone and showed me the scene of the crime. In the middle of the kitchen was my brown-haired two-year-old, who was completely covered in flour and icing, in nothing but pull ups, holding a wooden spoon and a pot in her hands, which also were covered in icing. Several spoons and pots sat in the icing, along with the plastic container and lid for the flour. I couldn't resist giggling at the mess, my giggling being joined by Abigail's.

Riley, who noticed our giggling, immediately commented, "You're only laughing because you didn't have to clean it up!"

"Exactly!" I said as I broke out into a full-blown laugh fest. Riley smirked as he shoved his phone in his pocket.

"The only saving grace she had was that the dogs were outside," Riley stated. "Otherwise, things could have gotten pretty nasty."

"Have you considered that you need to check on your child more often?" I asked.

"You mean _your_ child?" Riley smirked.

"What did you do with her after?" I asked, Abigail still giggling behind me.

"Well, after I reprimanded the little brat, Ben so graciously offered to clean the kitchen and dishes, while I took care of Chloe. We only had an hour to get this done before we were supposed to leave to go drop her off at Addie's. So I get Chloe washed up, get her clothes back on her, and brought the dogs in and lock them up. Ben had just gotten the kitchen cleaned by that point, and we managed to head out on time. Your daughter is lucky about that."

I just shook my head giggling. All I could envision was Riley's distraught, disbelieving face when he saw Chloe's "masterpiece". That would certainly be something he wouldn't let down for a while. Ben began to look around for books, while Abigail and I continued to chat with Riley. Ben popped in every now and then, but for the most part, he stayed focused on his research. We stayed there for almost thirty minutes, when we realized that our lunch break was almost over. Ben had just gotten settled down with another book when Abigail and I said our goodbyes to Ben and Riley.

Just as we turned around to leave, Ben called, "Wait!" Abigail and I turned our heads as he said, "Come take a look at this!" We all ran over and looked at what Ben had in his hand.

"It looks like a Playfair cipher," Abigail commented.

"See the riddle below the coupled letters?" Ben asked. We nodded. "That probably leads to the key code."

"So if we figure out that riddle," Riley began, "we can figure out the cipher?" Ben nodded.

"It says," I began as I read the riddle, "'The key word is the city of a country rooted in the most ancient of history. Filled with pharaohs and pyramids, the city with the greatest of these is the one you seek.' What does that mean?"

"I may be able to help," a voice said from behind us. An average-heighted man, who had also been studying in the library, walked up to us. He appeared to be around Ben's age, maybe a little older. He had fairly short, blonde hair. His voice, though British, sounded eerily familiar.

The man stuck out his hand toward Ben, "Name's Liam."

"Ben," Ben replied shaking his hand. "Ben Gates."

"Oh!" Liam said. "You're the guy who found the Templar Treasure and Cibola!"

"I am indeed," Ben replied, giving a small smile.

"I knew you looked familiar!" Liam said. He turned to us and said, "These must be your assistants."

"I guess you could call them that," Ben countered. "They're more like my partners."

"Oh, I see," Liam replied. "So what were you working on?"

"Oh we just found a cipher in this book," Abigail replied.

"Do you know where it leads to yet?" Liam asked.

"No," I replied. "We don't even know what the key word for the cipher is."

"Well," Liam started, "I could possibly help with that. Would you like me to?"

"I appreciate your offer," Ben began, "but I have a pretty good team, I think we can figure out on our own. Thank you though."

Liam nodded, "Ok, but you'll regret not taking up on my offer." He gave us a look as he walked out of the library.

"I have a bad feeling about that guy," Ben muttered as he looked back down at the book. "He sounds far too familiar."

I nodded as I looked down at my watched and exclaimed, "Oh my gosh! Abigail, we got to get back to work!"

"Oh my! You're right!" Abigail said as she looked at her watch and noticed that we were five minutes late back to work.

"Alright," Ben replied, "I'm going to finish my research for my lecture, then we'll head back over Riley and Avi's house to translate the cipher." He looked up at me before he said, "That is, if it's ok with you."

"Of course!" I replied. "You can even stay for dinner." I turned to Abigail and said, "And you are more than welcome to join us too."

"Alright," Abigail smiled. She turned to the guys and said, "See you guys after work."

"Bye babe," I said as I kissed Riley.

"Don't forget to pick up the brat from Addie's!" Riley called as we walked off.

"I won't," I winked.


	3. Discovery

**Chapter 2: Discovery**

Abigail and I went and finished our shift. Abigail offered to run to the store to get stuff for dinner while I picked up Chloe. About an hour and a half after getting off work, Abigail and I met the guys at the house. Chloe went into her room to play, while the guys came into the kitchen to discuss the cipher and Abigail and I started dinner.

"What do you guys have so far?" Abigail asked while cutting up vegetables.

"We haven't gotten too much farther," Riley replied. "We haven't even worked on deciphering the riddle because someone," he pointed at Ben, "decided he wanted to finish organizing his notes for his lecture first."

"Well," I began, "let's work on it now. Where's the riddle?"

"Here it is," Ben said handing the paper with the cipher and riddle to Riley.

"You want me to read it?" Riley asked. We all nodded, and he began, "'The key word is the city of a country rooted in the most ancient of history. Filled with pharaohs and pyramids, the city with the greatest of these is the one you seek.'"

"Well," Abigail began, "the 'pharaohs and pyramids' would refer to Egypt, wouldn't it?"

"Yeah," I replied. "Egypt also fits the 'country rooted in the most ancient of history' part too. They were involved with both Biblical and Greek history." Ben nodded. I turned to Riley and asked, "How many letters is the key word?"

"Four," Riley and Ben answered in unison.

"Ok," Abigail began. "So the key word is the city with the greatest 'pharaohs and pyramids'."

"And it's four letters," I added.

"'Giza'," Ben muttered. We all turned to him as he continued, "'Giza' is the key word. The Great Pyramid is in Giza." He turned to Riley and said, "Riley, type that in." We all gathered around Riley's computer as the key word was put in, and the computer began solving the cipher.

"'Cleopatra's Tomb'," Ben read off the computer. "The Great Pyramid in Giza is where the cipher itself leads."

"Guess that's my cue to look for plane tickets to Egypt," Riley said while clicking away at his computer. Abigail and I finished cooking dinner, and Riley found tickets as we sat down to dinner.

"Before I buy these tickets," Riley began, "do you want to text Hannah and ask if she wants to be involved?"

"Of course!" I replied. We continued to chat while we finished dinner. After dinner, I sent a text to Hannah, while Ben and Riley cleaned up the kitchen. I got a text back from Hannah, with her saying that she'd fly into D.C. that morning, and would meet us at the airport when we got there for the Giza flight that afternoon. I arranged for Addie to watch Chloe and the dogs while we were in Egypt, so we wouldn't have to take Chloe and pay for a kennel.

After Ben and Abigail left, Riley headed to the grocery store for some supplies for the trip, and for Chloe to take to Addie's. Since the best grocery store is almost forty-five minutes away, it would take Riley almost two hours to get back home, so after he had been gone for a half an hour, I went ahead to bed.

I don't know how long I had been asleep when some bustling noise brought me to some type of groggy consciousness. Suddenly, I heard a familiar, painful grunt followed by a crash. _Riley_, I thought. I called out my husband's name, with no reply. I sat up in bed, straining to catch any additional noise in the silence. I heard some more bustling, then the slow creak of a door, with a quiet slam. I called out for Riley again, but again, with no answer. I got up and cautiously walked downstairs. I turned on the light in the kitchen, and saw Riley crumpled on the floor in the foyer.

"Riley!" I yelled as I darted to my husband's side. I rolled him onto his back, his head lolling to the side. "Riley," I whispered shaking him, the fear choking my voice. I checked his pulse, and found a pretty strong one, and I breathe a sigh of relief as that meant he wasn't in serious danger. I then hear a small groan come from deep within Riley's throat. "Riley?" I whisper again as he opened his eyes. He gave me a confused look, then as his thoughts and vision came into focus, he laid his head in my lap. I ran my hand through his hair and asked, "You ok, babe?"

"I think so," Riley croaked.

"You know what happened?" I inquired concernedly.

"No," Riley responded, "All I know is that I was hit right before I passed out…or really knocked out." I thought for a minute. Then my eyes grew wide.

"You were attacked," I gasped. Riley's eyes grew wide as I said, "I need to call Abigail." I tried to get up, but Riley gently pulled me back down and handed me his phone. I dialed Abigail's cell from memory, and shakily brought the phone up to my ear.

"Hello?" was the response of a groggy Abigail on the other line.

"Hey," I replied shakily, "I'm sorry to wake you."

"Avi?"

"Yeah?"

"What's wrong?" Abigail asked concernedly, apparently hearing the shakiness in my voice.

"I think someone else is after whatever this cipher is leading to. Someone broke into the house while I was asleep, and attacked Riley when he came home from the store." Riley squeezed my free hand as I choked back tears.

"Oh my gosh!" Abigail exclaimed. "Is he ok?"

"Yeah, he's ok. He was knocked out, but he's ok and conscious now." A wave of emotion swept over me as I released a tear and it trickled down my face. Riley adjusted himself and wiped the tear away and kissed my cheek. I squeezed his hand.

"I just told Ben," Abigail said after a few moments. "He just said that we really need to watch our back." She paused, then she asked, "Are _you_ ok, Avi?"

I choked back another wave of tears, "I will be."

"Ok, just call me if you need me," she added.

"I will," I replied. We said our goodbyes, and she hung up. I turned to Riley and asked, "You ok to get upstairs to bed?" He nodded, and got up a little uneasily, but otherwise fine. I gathered up the groceries that had fallen on the floor, and put them on the counter. We then headed up the stairs, and then got in bed. I waited a few minutes until I thought Riley was asleep, and then released a quiet sob that I had been holding in since finding out that Riley had been attacked. Riley apparently heard me, and he pulled me close and rubbed my back. It wasn't long before I fell back to sleep.


	4. Giza

**Chapter 3: Giza**

The next day, Ben had his lecture at the university, and Riley and I made our final arrangements before heading out to Addie's to drop Chloe and the dogs off. We then drove to the airport and met Abigail and Ben. We picked up Hannah, and we boarded the plane and took off for Giza.

Upon landing in Giza and, though it was morning there, we got a hotel and slept. Since it was too late to go out to the pyramid by the time we woke up, we took that day off. The following day, we headed out to the pyramid. We didn't know where this clue would be on, or in, this pyramid, so we looked around for anything that looked peculiar.

"Guys," Hannah shouted after a while of searching, "come look at this." We all ran over, and Hannah pointed to what she found. There was a painting of the all-seeing eye, and below it was a carving of the Roman numerals MDCCCLXXII.

"1872," Ben said as he translated the numerals. He thought for a minute. "That's the year Waynman Dixon found the shafts in this pyramid." He thought for a minute again, as he muttered the cipher's translation. Finally, he bolted his head up and said, "It's the Queen's Chamber. The clue is in the Queen's Chamber." Ben began to make his way in and we followed him. He led the way through several tunnels, when we finally entered a small chamber. Inside were some gold artifacts, and on the wall were some red hieroglyphs. Ben noticed these right off, and went over and examined them. We followed him over to the wall and stared at the hieroglyphs.

"Can you translate them?" Riley asked after a little bit.

Ben shook his head, "No, but my aunt can." He took out his camera, and took a picture of the hieroglyphs. He turned and gestured for us to exit, and we all began to crawl out of the pyramid. Once we got out, we headed back to the hotel, gathered our things, and headed to the airport. We hopped on the next possible flight to D.C. Upon landing, we picked up our cars, and headed back to our houses for a good night's sleep.


	5. Aunt Marie

**Chapter 4: Aunt Marie**

The next morning, we headed over to George Washington University. Ben's aunt (on his mom's side), Ms. Marie, is an Egyptian history professor there, and would know how to translate the hieroglyphs. We arrive at the college, got directions for her room, and made our way to her office.

"Ok," Ben began before we entered the door, "I'm giving you a heads up. This could get awkward. I haven't seen my aunt in over twenty years."

"Why?" Riley asked confused.

"She disowned me after I started treasure hunting. She's only now decided to call me her nephew again after finding the treasure. Hopefully she'll help us." And with that, Ben opened the door. We all walked in to see Ms. Marie, who looked very much like Ms. Emily, though her hair was shorter and brown (she obviously dyes it). She was consumed in whatever she was looking at, and held her hand up, acknowledging our presence. We stood and waited for her to finish.

Finally, she looked up. "Oh my! Benjamin!" she exclaimed as she ran over to hug Ben. When she released Ben, she started stared at us. "Is this your treasure hunting group?" she finally asked. Ben nodded. "Should you introduce me to them?" she asked impatiently.

"Oh yeah, sorry," Ben replied. He pointed to Riley, who walked up next to Ben, "This is my best friend Riley. He's the one who does all the stuff on the technical end of our treasure hunts." I walked up beside Riley as Ben pointed to me and said, "This is his wife, Aviana."

"Pleasure to meet you," Ms. Marie said, shaking our hands. We nodded and smiled in reply.

"This is Aviana's best friend Hannah," Ben said as he pointed to her. Ms. Marie shook Hannah's hand as Ben put an arm around Abigail. "And this is my girlfriend Abigail," he concluded with a smile.

"Oh I had no idea you had a girlfriend!" Ms. Marie said as she brought Abigail in for a hug. "Your mother tells me nothing about you except about your treasure hunts!" She released Abigail and turned to Ben, "So why do I owe you the pleasure of coming to see me?"

"Well," Ben began as he pulled out his camera, "I wanted you to take a look at this." He pulled up the picture, and handed the camera to his aunt.

"Ah," she began, "I was waiting for the day my knowledge of hieroglyphs would actually become more useful than just teaching college students." Riley cocked his head up at Ben, who merely shrugged his shoulders in confusement. Finally, Ms. Marie spoke up, "You ready for the translation, Benjamin?" Ben nodded as he pulled out a pad of paper and a pen. "Alright," Ms. Marie began, "here it goes. 'The Mecca you will find, a temple of Masons and Shrines. And in the altar you will find the reference to the map of the item you seek.'" She looked up, "You're not on another treasure hunt, are you Ben?"

"Honestly," Ben began, "we're not sure what we're looking for." Ms. Marie gave him a look, but finally shrugged and said, "Well alright. There's the translation you were looking for. Now go on, get out of my office."

"Thanks Aunt Marie," Ben said as we turned and left.


	6. The Translation

**Chapter 5: The Translation**

It was getting close to lunch time by the time we left Ms. Marie's office, so we headed to a nearby deli to grab some lunch. While there, we discussed the riddle that Ms. Marie translated.

"Ok," Abigail began, "so it says that we'll find the next clue in a temple of 'Masons and Shrines' called Mecca. What the heck is that supposed to mean?"

Ben lowered his head in thought. "Well," he began, "in 1872, the first Shriners temple was built in New York, and it was called the Mecca Temple, and that would be the obvious place to look, except for that it's not there anymore. It's been replaced with the New York City Center."

"Well the riddle obviously says that the clue is in the altar," Hannah said. "Surely they would have not disposed of the altar. They would have kept it somewhere."

"Yes," Ben replied, "but where it would be is where our problem lies. I'm not sure where they would have put it."

"We could always try just looking around the New York City Center," Riley suggested. "What's it going to hurt? Minus the fact that Avi's probably going to have to pay Addie for watching Chloe and the dogs," he said as he noticed me texting Addie about extending Chloe and the dogs' stay with her.

Ben shrugged, "We can do that." He smiled when he saw that Riley had already pulled up prices for airplane tickets to New York. "That is, if you can do all the security work done."

"That will be no problem," Riley said. "I'll look at all of that once we get our hotel in New York." He looked from his computer and added, "Speaking of which, we should probably go get to packing. We have to be at the airport for our flight at four. Our flight leaves at five." And with that, we left the deli, and headed to our houses. We all met again at the airport at four, and hopped on the plane at five. We were in New York and at our hotel by 7:30.


	7. Clue and Enemies

**Chapter 6: Clue and Enemies**

The next morning, we headed out to the New York City Center. As usual, Riley had his little hideout (again in the men's bathroom), while the rest of us went in. Only Ben and I had ear pieces in, so Abigail and Hannah had to follow our lead.

Our first plan of action was to make it down to the basement. Riley got us through the security doors and froze the security cameras while we went down there. Once inside, we began to look around. However, it wasn't too long before we found the altar; with a masonic symbol in the middle of two crosses carved into the wood. Ben opened the altar, and found that it also had Chinese puzzle box components, just like the Resolute desks. He figured this one out pretty quick and; like the Resolute desks, out popped a compartment with a plank inside. Ben picked it up and brought it to the light.

"The writing…it looks like it's Greek," Ben began. "At least we have the whole thing this time." We nodded at that. "We'll have to find someone to translate it when we get home."

"I can translate it," Hannah said. "I took Greek in college."

"Alright," Ben said, "but let's get out of here before our cover's blown." So with that, we grabbed the plank and all made our way back out of the basement. We met up with Riley, and made our way out of the building, heading toward the alleyway that we had to park our car in.

"For once, nothing went wrong!" Riley said as we walked through the alley. "Now can I see what you got from the altar?" I pulled out the plank and handed it to Riley, and Hannah and Abigail came over and showed him the markings in the wood.

"Remember me from the Library of Congress?" I heard an eerily familiar voice make. The hair stood up on the back of my neck as I turned to where the voice came from.

"Liam," Ben confirmed as I noticed he was staring in the same direction as well.

"Very good, Ben," Liam said with a grin. "I'm glad that you recognize me. I believe you'd also recognize my brother too, if I'm not mistaken."

That's when Ben and I stood straight up. The body structure, the hair, the accent, they were all so eerily familiar for a reason. This man, Liam, was Ian Howe's brother.

"Howe!" Ben shouted as we turned and sprinted for the car. Hannah, Abigail, and Riley also noticed Liam and his men, and they turned and followed us to the car.

"Oh no," Riley said during our sprint, "not this again!" As he said that, a gun discharged, and he rushed into the car, landing in the driver's seat, the rest of us piling in after him. "In coming bullet!" Riley yelled just before a bullet shattered the back window of the car. Luckily, we all ducked in time as Riley sped off down the alley, more gun shots pinging against the car. "Guess I'll be paying the damage price for this rental," Riley muttered as he attempted to speed down the New York alleyways. It wasn't long, however, before Liam and his men were following us. Riley fought to keep control of the car and avoid hitting people as we flew down the wet pavement; the night's previous rain making the roads slick. It was becoming readily apparent that it wasn't going to be long before we crashed at the rate we were going.

"Abigail," Ben said while not peeling his eyes off the road, "give me the plank." Abigail handed him the plank as Ben also asked, "Does anyone have a cell phone with a good camera in it?"

"I have an iPod touch," Hannah said as she pulled out her iPod. "Will that work?"

"If it has a camera, it's fine with me," Ben said as he took Hannah's iPod. He positioned the plank and snapped a picture. He handed the iPod back to Hannah. "You'll have to translate that when we get back to D.C.," Ben instructed. Hannah nodded. "Now we just have to hand over that plank to Liam and-"

Ben couldn't finish as a car missed a stop sign and hit the back end of our car. We began to spin across the road, Riley unable to regain any control over the car. We screamed as we ran into scaffolding. Thankfully, it didn't crash on top of us, though many paint cans did, and Hannah, Abigail, and I became covered in paint that seeped through the busted rear window.

"Everyone ok?" Ben said as he turned to look at the back seat. The three of us in the back nodded, and Ben turned to Riley who, though shaken, also nodded. That's when Ben looked up and saw Liam get out of his car, who apparently avoided the car that hit us (which had sped away by this point). Liam slowly walked over to us.

"Well Ben," Liam began, "that chase ended well, didn't it? We wouldn't want that to happen again, do we?" Riley violently shook his head. "Then I'd suggest you hand over whatever it was that you got from the New York City Center," Liam suggested with a grin. Ben glared at him, as he reluctantly handed over the plank. "Thank you," Liam said as he walked back over to his car and drove away. We sat in silence for a moment.

"I suppose now would be a good time to call a tow truck," Riley said a little shakily. We nodded as Riley pulled out his phone, found the local towing business, and called. It wasn't long after Riley's call that a tow truck came, and we were taken to the repair shop. We handled some legal matters about the accident there (or Ben and I did, Riley was too shaken), we paid for the repairs, and we got a taxi back to the hotel. There we washed up, and took another taxi back to the airport. We flew home on the next possible flight to D.C., landed, and got back to our car by midnight. So we picked up Chloe and the dogs, and we all drove to my house and crashed for the night, planning on translating the plank in the morning.


	8. Revealing and Plan

**Chapter 7: Revealing and Plan**

The next day, we all awoke around nine, and we began to focus on the next clue. Hannah brought up the picture on her iPod and studied it carefully. "This may take me a while," she commented. "It's been a while since I've taken Greek."

"That's fine," Ben said. "Take your time." Hannah began scribbling notes down, to see if anything she translated made sense together.

Finally, she looked up, beaming, and said, "I've got it!"

"What is it?" Abigail asked as we all ran over to Hannah.

Hannah studied her notes one more time, then began, "It's 'There is a Challenger that holds a secret, the secret of a map. Then let the light of the key to shine, and the location of Danu Talis will be revealed'." That's when she froze and turned to Ben, a huge smile on her face. Ben looked back at her confused.

"What is it?" he asked

"Danu Talis is Atlantis," Hannah said beaming. Ben's eyes widen, and we all look at each other, both smiles and eyes wide.

"Atlantis is probably one of the most well-known treasure myths in the world," Ben began. "Who knew that we would be the ones to find it?" We all smiled at him, relishing in that thought.

Of course, Riley always has to ruin these amazing moments, as he interrupted the moment by saying, "What does this riddle mean?"

"Well," Ben began, "wherever this riddle leads obviously leads to a map, which is most likely the 'lock' that it's talking about. And it's going to be on a 'Challenger'."

"We also have to find the key," Abigail said.

"Yeah," Ben replied, "but it's not going to be in the same place. The clue to the key will be there probably, but not the key itself."

"So we just need to figure out what this 'Challenger' is," I stated.

"Right," Ben confirmed. He began to pace, muttering "challenger" under his breath. Finally, he straightened up. "_HMS Challenger_," Ben said. "There were several British ships that had this name. But one was different. The first _Challenger_ was sold to the United States government back in 1870. The following year, the Attorney General at the time, George Williams, sent the ship out to Greece for an expedition. They got something from there, and then sailed back at the end of 1871. It was in American waters by January of 1872, but Williams had the ship sunk before he ever let it port. Both the reason and location that the ship sunk was unknown; but that information has been passed down to every Attorney General since Williams. Based on the riddle, the reason the ship was sunk and hidden was because there was a clue on that ship to Atlantis."

"Well how are you going to get to the ship if its location is a secret?" Riley asked.

Ben sighed, "There's only one option; to kidnap the United States Attorney General." We all just looked dumbfounded at him.

"Well it's not as stupid as kidnaping the President," Riley muttered.

"It's the only option we have," Ben said. "And we can't just abandon the search since we have Liam on our tails. And if he's anything like his brother; which he appears to be, then he'll stop at nothing to get to this treasure."

"What is your plan for this?" Abigail said slightly distraught. "We don't have a huge birthday party for the President that you can just go and crash."

"No," Ben said, "but they're having one for the First Lady this Friday."

"Where?" Abigail asked. "You couldn't do it at Mount Vernon again."

"No," Ben said, "but they're already at a pretty good location as is." Ben paused before he said, "Sotterly Plantation. Since that place is huge, we could easily hide the Attorney General so I can ask him."

"And by 'we', you mean 'you', right?" Riley asked. Ben gave a slight smile and chuckled.

"Of course Riley," Ben finally said. "I wouldn't want to get you guys in trouble again. The Declaration was bad enough." We all gave Ben a semi smile, and then he continued, "This time, all I'm going to need you guys to do is drop me off in some woods near Sotterly Plantation, and then come get me when I tell you. I'll have an ear piece in so you can hear me, and I can hear what you guys are saying, only if needed. Then we'll head off to wherever the Attorney General tells us." We nodded, and went about our lives as usual in the next few days in preparation for yet another crime. We thought this one would be much simpler, as there would be little needed preparations beforehand. Little did we know what this crime would lead to in the days to come.


	9. The Secret Location

**Chapter 8: The Secret Location**

Friday finally rolled around, and we all drove Ben to Sotterly Plantation. We dropped him off, and drove to a nearby park to let Chloe play while we waited for Ben to contact us. We had backpacks with a few essentials in there in case we had to travel far. We again prayed for Ben in this kidnapping, as we knew that if Ben was caught, his track record could make things worse.

It wasn't too long before Ben called us for us to head over to pick him up. We were there within five minutes, and Ben rushed into my SUV, and we took off. Ben told me to take back roads out to highway 95, and then he would give specifics after that.

"So Ben," I asked after about an hour of going south on 95, "where are we actually heading to?"

"The Florida Keys," Ben replied. "We should probably stop by your parents' house on the way down there; even if only for a few minutes. Do you think they would mind?"

"No, not at all," I replied. "I'll call them to give them a heads up that we're coming." Ben nodded as I took out my phone and called my parents.

"Hello?" my mom answered after a few rings.

"Hey Mom," I replied, "I have a favor to ask of you."

"Oh hey Aviana! What's this favor of yours?"

"Well, we're on another treasure hunt, and-"

"Oh! What is this one for?"

"Atlantis. And one-"

"Atlantis?! _The_ Atlantis?!"

"Yes Mom. But one of the clues leads to the Keys. And since we kind of had to head down there as fast as possible, we-"

"Why? What did you guys do this time?"

"That's beside the point, Mom. _Anyway_, we had to bring Chloe with us. Would there be any possible way you could watch her while we went and got the clue we need from the Keys? We may need to leave her longer, depending on what the clue we get says. Would that be a problem?"

"Oh not at all! Your father and I would love to see Chloe again, and you guys for that matter when you come to drop her off. Do you have any idea what time you guys will be here?"

"Probably not until ten tomorrow morning."

"Alright, see you then! I love you!"

"Thanks Mom. Love you too." And I hung up. I informed Ben on what my mom said, and we continued on our road trip toward Florida. We drove late into the night, stopping occasionally for gas and to switch drivers, but we finally made it to my parents' house by eleven the following morning.

Upon arrival, my mother ran out to greet us hugging us all. My dad followed suit, and carried Chloe in while Riley carried all of Chloe's stuff. My mom had fixed us breakfast, and considering that we were starving, we couldn't refuse. My mom was upset that we couldn't stay after breakfast, but she didn't protest too much. We said our goodbyes and hopped in the car to drive for another eight hour drive to the Florida Keys.


	10. The Challenger

**Chapter 9: The Challenger**

By the time we left my parents' house, Ben had already contacted a friend he knows that lives in the Keys and owns a diving equipment store (named Andrew). He said he would be happy to lend us all some, and would take us to the location we needed to be. We got there at around seven, and considering it was summer, it was still bright enough out for us to go ahead and dive. So we met up with Andrew, got diving gear on, headed out on his boat, and dove into the ocean.

Light had started to fade from the sky, and we still hadn't found a sign of anything. However, shortly before it became too dark to dive any longer, we found the _Challenger_. We began to investigate, looking for anything that could possibly be a clue. It was Abigail, though, who was the one who called saying she found something.

"What is it?" I asked through my regulator as we all swam over to Abigail.

"It's some sort of box," Abigail replied. "It has 'Danu Talis Chárti̱s' on it."

"And 'chárti̱s'," Hannah began, "means 'map' in Greek."

"So this is like an 'Atlantis map', right?" Riley asked.

"Exactly," Hannah replied.

"It has some markings on the bottom of it too," Abigail added. She flipped the box over to investigate.

"Yay, it's in English!" Riley exclaimed upon viewing the markings.

Abigail observed it some more, and then began to read, "'You have found the map, but to find the 'X' that marks the spot, find the crack in the memorial of nameless fallen soldiers, and inside you will find the key to the lock you seek.'"

"Ok," Ben began, "there is some sort of keys at the memorial of nameless fallen soldiers, and one will reveal the 'X', and one is one that we're obviously seeking." He looked at us and asked, "Do you know where this is leading?" We all shook our head, and Ben answered, "The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier."

"Oh crud," Riley replied.

"I know," Ben agreed. "It's one of the most guarded US monuments."

"True," Riley agreed, "but that's not why I said 'oh crud'." We gave him confused glances as Riley pointed upward and said, "It looks like we have company."

Sure enough, Riley was right. At first, we thought it was just Andrew. But as they got closer, we realized that there were more divers, and none of them were Andrew.

"Hello Ben," one of the divers greeted.

"Liam," Ben sneered.

"Nice to see you too Ben," Liam replied. "So, this is where the next clue is, huh?"

"How did you know that?" Riley asked.

"I have my ways," Liam said. "So, we can do this the easy way, or we can do this the hard way. I want the next clue."

"No," Ben replied.

"Fine," Liam said.

Suddenly, two of his men grabbed Hannah, and they all began to swim toward the surface. I immediately began to swim after them, but Liam pulled out a knife, and before I could dart out of the way, he slashed the tubes connecting my regulator to my air tank. Being fifty feet below the surface of the water, and my source of air cut off, I immediately began to shoot for the surface. I held my breath the best I could, knowing that water getting into my lungs would make things worse. Still thirty feet from air, black spots began to invade my vision, and I passed out before I could reach the surface.


	11. Awakening

**Chapter 10: Awakening**

I woke up to the sound of rhythmic beeping. I cracked my eyes open, seeing only a white ceiling and white walls. Realizing I'm in a hospital and lying on a hospital bed, I looked around; trying to find someone or something who can give me answers as to why I'm here. I started to sit up, but a massive headache and a tug from the IV in my hand caused me to crash back down on the bed. I look to my left, and squint at the light coming in from the window. I looked over to my right, and saw Riley snoozing in the chair beside the bed. On the table next to him was a plate of barely touched food. _Something must really be stressing him_, I thought. _That's the only reason he wouldn't eat._ Right next to the plate, I noticed the clue that we found on the _Challenger_. _Yes, Ben got it._

I look back over at Riley, and quietly began calling his name. I finally reached out the hand that didn't have the IV in it, and nudged him. He woke up, and after only almost knocking over a few things, and falling to the floor with his chair, he sat back down and finally noticed that I was awake.

"Avi," he whispered gently grasping my hand, "you're awake." I nodded, giving him a tired smile. The door opened, and Riley and I both looked up as Abigail walked in.

"Hey, welcome back to the land of the living!" Abigail greeted, taking a seat to the left of my bed. "How are you feeling?"

"My head feels like it's going to explode," I replied, "and I'm pretty tired. But minus that, I'm ok." I paused for a moment, before finally asking, "What happened? Like, why am I in the hospital?"

Riley squeezed my hand a little, and asked, "Do you remember the expedition at all, where we got the clue from the _Challenger_?"

"Yeah. I remember that we found the clue, and that we had to go to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier to get the next clue, and then you pointed out that Liam was there, and they took Hannah, and…oh." I stopped when I remembered the rest. "What happened to me after I passed out?"

"Well," Riley began with his voice a little thick, "I noticed all the bubbles around you…and I tried to swim up to get you…but I couldn't swim up there fast enough…and you had long since passed out by the time I caught you…and by the time I got you in the boat…your heart had stopped beating." Riley then let go of my hand and buried his face in his hands. I started to reach out to him, when Abigail got my attention.

"It was pretty stressful for him," she said. "I mean, he didn't completely freak out, but you could tell that he had completely panicked inside."

I nodded. "What happened after he got me in the boat?"

"He began doing CPR, and revived you, but after you coughed up the water, you passed out again. We then took off toward land, with Riley cradling you in his arms the entire time. Once we got to the hospital, the doctor looked you over and said that the main problem was the large amount of salt that got in your system, and that as soon as you woke up, you should be good to go."

I nodded and looked over at Riley, who still had his head in his hands. I reached over to him, and put my hand on his shoulder. He looked up at me, his eyes red from crying. "Hey," I began, "I'm awake, and I'm going to be ok. Why are you so upset?"

He wiped his eyes, and without making eye contact, he said, "I just keep on thinking about what would have happened if I didn't look back up after you shot after Liam…you…you would have…died." He lowered his head even lower than it already was, and started shaking.

I blinked back tears as he said that, as it hurt me to see him this stressed and scared. "Riley," I said, my voice pained, "babe, look at me." He looked up at me with tear-filled eyes. I took his hand and said, "Listen to me. Nothing is going to happen to me. I promise. Everything is, and is going to be ok. I _promise_." He nodded shakily and squeezed my hand. I leaned forward to kiss him, and he then wrapped his arms around me, and held me in a tight embrace. We rubbed each other's backs for a few seconds, before I gave him one final squeeze before releasing him.

That's when I noticed something. Though Riley was the only one in the room when I woke up, Abigail had come in within a few minutes after. But I had been awake for almost thirty minutes now, and Ben hadn't come in yet; which I knew was unlike him. I looked up at Riley, giving a confused look, and asked, "Where's Ben?"

That's when Abigail stiffened, and a look of fear and worry completely washed over her. Riley glanced over at her, before turning to me and said, "Ben had to go ahead and head back to D.C. to get the next clue. There was an article about him kidnapping the Attorney General on the TV here, so he knew he couldn't stay. So he's in D.C. preparing to get the next clue."

"But isn't the clue at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier?" I asked. When he nodded, I got worried, "Riley, why did you let him go alone! Do you realize what could happen?!"

"I know, I know! I'm just as scared as you are. But I couldn't leave you and he refused to take anyone. I asked him to wait but he wouldn't!"

"When is he planning on doing this?" I asked.

"Tonight."

I glanced up at the clock. "Well, let's get a doctor to come and check me out. If we can get out of here soon enough, we can maybe catch him before he leaves; and if nothing else, stay in contact with him." Riley and Abigail both nodded, as Riley went to go fetch the doctor.


	12. The Tomb

**Chapter 11: The Tomb**

Within an hour and a half, I had been checked over, discharged, and we had found a flight back to D.C. that would get us there in time to help Ben. I had talked to my mom about having her and my dad keep Chloe a little while longer, and we had gone through customs and gotten some lunch. After lunch, Abigail and I talked while Riley staked out the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, hopefully being able to help Ben get in and get out without being caught. Right before we boarded the plane, we called Ben, who agreed to let us help him; although we had to be at least five blocks away from Arlington National Cemetery with all of Riley's equipment. But at least we would be able to stay in contact with him, and know if something went wrong.

We arrived in D.C. at 5:00pm. Since Ben had taken our car when he left the hospital, he picked us up from the airport; in hiding of course. He took us back to Riley and mine's house to finish the final plans. We would drop him off at Arlington National Cemetery once it got dark. Then we would drive away, and park while waiting for Ben, keeping in contact with him through headsets; and though we could all hear Ben, Riley was the only one who could talk to him. Once he got the clue, he would run out to the car, and we would drive back to my place.

With that plan in motion, we got the cemetery by 9pm. Ben put his hearing piece in, we checked to make sure we all could hear him, and that he could hear Riley, and then he left. Once we were parked, we sat, waited, and prayed. While Ben was heading to the tomb, he had to be quiet, so we weren't able to hear anything from him.

Finally, we got word from him, "Alright, I'm here. And I'm going in."

"Alright," Riley replied. "Just be careful." It was silence again for a good fifteen minutes. That is, until we heard sirens, and saw flashing lights from the direction of the cemetery. That's when we all got nervous, as we knew that Ben had been found out.

But before we could tell Ben, he began talking, "I found the clue! It's a diamond ankh. Don't know what it's for, but I know it is a symbol for 'key' in Egypt."

"We may have to look through it," I said. "Remember how the riddle from New York said you had shine light through the key? Maybe if you hold the diamond up to the light, it will reveal something on the map."

"Ok Avi," Ben replied, "you're a genius." He paused before he said, "Uh oh."

"What?" Riley franticly asked, hoping the FBI hadn't found him. We heard an unfamiliar voice yell, "Hey, there he is!" before a gunshot rang out, and our connection to Ben was lost.


	13. Worry

**Chapter 12: Worry**

Riley frantically looked at his cables, hoping to find something that caused the connection to be lost. When he found that everything was intact, he lowered his head and looked back at us with worry. I knew what he was thinking, and Abigail and I were thinking about the same thing. With the gunshot being the last thing we heard before the connection was lost…had Ben been killed? Had the reason that we lost connection with him be because Ben had been shot, and was dead?

We sat and waited for a little bit, hoping that maybe Ben would come out of the woods, and hop in the car. But when we saw all the FBI vehicles drive away, we knew that Ben had either been captured or killed. All we could do then, as we drove home, was pray that it was the former.

We got back to my house, with Abigail spending the night with us. We decided to stay up for a little bit, hoping to hear some news before we went to bed. After sitting up, comforting Abigail, for almost two hours, the phone rang.

"Hello?" Riley said answering the phone.

"Riley?" said the voice on the other end.

"Yes?"

"It's Ben. I-"

"Ben! You're ok! We were worried sick!"

"I know, and I'm sorry. I had to take out the ear piece and destroy it. I didn't want them tracking you. Listen though, I don't have much time on here. I have the clue, and it will be safe with me. I don't want you trying to get me out or anything. Just focus on getting Hannah away from Liam, and stay safe. Sadusky said I can call you after they figure out what to do with me. So I can talk to you then. Love you guys." And before Riley could say anything else, Ben had hung up. Riley told us what Ben had said, and Abigail grabbed her phone and started looking at something.

"What are you doing?" Riley asked.

"Well," she began, "Ben said that he didn't want _us_ trying to get him out. But maybe I can recruit Liam. Maybe he'll be like his brother." She dialed a number onto her phone, and brought it up to her ear.

"So far, Liam's worse than his brother," Riley muttered. Suddenly, we heard Abigail ask, "Liam?" before turning and walking out of the room. We waited a good five minutes before she came back.

"What did Liam say?" I asked.

"He agreed to help if he got like half the treasure," she replied. "But he had to get some help first. Not exactly sure what that is about, but that is what he said."

"Did he say when he could meet us with Ben?" Riley asked.

"Well," Abigail began. "Today is Sunday, so it would be Tuesday. And we'll meet him at the Lincoln Memorial that night." Riley and I nodded, and with that, we all went off and went to bed.


	14. Liam

**Chapter 13: Liam**

Tuesday finally came around. After a full day of work for Abigail and I; along with dinner at my place, we headed to the Lincoln Memorial to meet up with Liam and his men. He had called earlier and confirmed that he had Ben, with the help of some mysterious person that Liam had help him break Ben out of prison. He also said that he would bring Hannah, which calmed my nerves a little.

We took the Metro to the station nearest the Lincoln Memorial, and walked over to the rendezvous point. Upon arriving there, we sat on the top step, waiting for Liam and Ben. Within five minutes, we watched as five men began climbing up the steps toward us; Liam, his three men, and Ben.

Once they were at the top of the stairs, Abigail ran forward and wrapped her arms around Ben and said, "Oh Ben, you're ok!" Ben wrapped his arms back around her, and gave her a gentle squeeze before looking back up at Riley and I with an apologetic and fearful look. It wouldn't take us long to figure out the reason behind that look.

"Where's Hannah?" I question Liam, as Hannah was nowhere to be seen.

"She's coming," he replied. "My 'helper' is bringing her, and should be here soon."

And right on cue, we glanced down, and saw a man about the same size as Liam, but taller leading who I concluded was Hannah up the stairs; with a tight grip on her arm. They walked slowly to the top of the stairs; and I began to notice similarities between the guy (who had his head down so I couldn't see his face) and Liam. Same color hair, same body structure; they were very similar. But when he got to the top of the stairs, and he raised his head, that's when I realized we were in trouble…_major_ trouble. This man was…


	15. More Discovery

**Chapter 14: More Discovery**

"Ian Howe," Riley said with almost a disgusted face. "Didn't expect to see you again."

"Yeah," Ian replied, "nice to see you too, Riley."

"You recruited Ian?!" Abigail asked Liam, almost franticly.

"Yep!" Liam replied. "I figured he would give me a little bit of an edge, since he had worked with y'all before. Besides, he got Gates out of FBI custody once, I figured he could do it again." He gave us a smirk before immediately asking, "So what's the next clue?"

Knowing he didn't have a choice but to go along with Liam, Ben pulled out he pulled the diamond ankh from his pocket, took the map's box from Riley, and then said, "In order to find out where to go next, we need to shine some light through the diamond ankh and onto the map that's in the box. But we might want to wait until morning to do that."

"No," Liam said, "we can take it back to my place. Maybe it will work with a flashlight.

Ben thought for a moment, and then replied, "Yeah, we could try that. And worst case scenario, we wait until morning." Liam nodded in agreement.

So with that, we headed over to Liam's apartment. Upon arrival, we went into his office, and turned out all the lights, minus a flashlight that was brought in. With only the light from the flashlight allowing us to see, Ben laid the map out on the desk. He raised the ankh about six inches away from the map, and Liam held the flashlight on the ankh. Once we got the angle just right, the light spread across the entire map. We waited a couple of minutes, and then a little "X" began to form off where the southeast coast of Greece was on the map. Judging by the measurement we took and the map legend, we confirmed that this "X" was about fifty miles from the Corinth seaport. Riley, Abigail, Hannah, and I all looked over at Ben with huge grins on our faces; and he looked up with one as well.

"Well," Liam said, "what are we waiting for? Let's go!"

"Umm, Liam," I began, "we kind of need a plane to get there."

"My right hand man, Shane," Liam replied, "owns a jet. Don't ask questions, but he does. And he can fly it, so he will take us to Corinth." We all cocked our heads, including Ian, upon hearing this, but we did not say a word. Instead, we followed Liam to a van that he has, and he drove us over to a hanger; where sure enough, there was a jet in. Liam grabbed some supplies, and put them in the cargo compartment of the jet. After that, we all piled in, Shane hopped in the pilot seat, and we were on our way to Corinth.


	16. Trouble in Corinth

**Chapter 15: Trouble in Corinth**

Well, as we found out during the flight, there are no airports in Corinth. As a result, we had to land in Athens. Having left D.C. at midnight, we arrived in Athens at 8:30pm their time (1:30pm our time). Since it was so late by the time we got there, we found a small hotel in Athens and slept; planning on catching a train to Corinth the next morning.

The next day, we rose early and quickly ate breakfast and got ready. We were able to head out by 10am, and caught the train to Corinth by 10:30. With it being an hour and a half train ride there, we didn't arrive until noon. We grabbed some lunch, and found a place where we could rent a small boat that we could use to get to where the map told us. Upon getting this boat, we found a bathroom and changed into some wet suits. Then we threw the rest of our scuba gear into the boat and climbed aboard and set off.

It took us a few hours to get there, but we finally arrived at the location indicated on the map. Once we got there, we anchored, and got the rest of our scuba gear on. Once we were ready to dive, we all; minus Ian's men, jumped off the boat and started our dive. We got to the sea floor, and began to search for any clue to where Atlantis might be. After almost a half an hour of searching, none of us seemed to find anything. Ben kept his eye over in one location, but there didn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary that would be a clue or entry way to Atlantis.

"So Ben," Ian enquired agitatedly, "where is the treasure? We've been looking for a half an hour."

"I don't know Ian," Ben replied, still seeming to be looking for something.

"Don't you give me that talk!" Ian snapped, "_Where_ is the next clue?"

"Ian," Ben began again, "I don't know!"

Ian clenched his fist, and turned around toward Hannah, who was directly behind him. He grabbed a hold of her, brought a knife to her throat, and looked at Ben. "Tell me where the clue is, _now_!" Ian demanded again.

Ben, now rigid with stress and fear, just simply glared back at Ian. Abigail, Riley, and I were freaking out too. Ian cocked his head, "You're not going to tell me Ben?" Ben just continued to glare at him. Ian then moved the knife to the far side of Hannah's throat, put it up to her skin, and was positioned to slit her throat.

"Yellowstone," Ben blurted out before Ian could slit Hannah's throat. We all look confused as he continues, "See that yellow slab of stone over there with '1872' engraved on it? That represents the Yellow Stone, the 1872 representing the year Yellowstone National Park was founded."

"What does it mean?" Liam asked.

"There was a diamond hoax that happened in Wyoming, shortly before Yellowstone was established. When this hoax was investigated, they did actually find a real yellow diamond. They noticed it had a Mason symbol carved on the top of this diamond, obviously signifying that it was significant. They called it the 'Yellow Stone' and decided to hide it, and it was buried deep in a cave within the boundaries of the new national park. Since that was where the Yellow Stone was buried, they named the park Yellowstone National Park, combining 'yellow' and 'stone' as to hide the true meaning of the name."

"Thank you," Ian said putting his knife away, and beginning to swim up with Liam and Hannah.

"Hey!" Riley shouted. "You have to give us Hannah!"

"Why?" Ian asked. "So you can do the same thing you me that you did under Trinity Church? Not only will you guys be 'trapped', I've got Hannah, and she won't be released until I have that treasure in my possession. So I wouldn't cross me if I were you." He turned back to Ben, "See you, Ben." And he and Liam swam to the surface.


	17. The Key

**Chapter 16: The Key**

"Oh no," I said, running my hand through my hair, "this cannot be happening again." I hung my head and asked, "What are we going to do, Ben?" After waiting for a little bit for a response, I turned to him, "Ben?"

"Everything will be ok, Avi," Ben said while swimming over to a particular location. "The clue I gave Ian was a fake. Atlantis is around here somewhere, and as soon as we find it and get out, we will find Hannah." I nodded as Ben began investigating the golden stone that he was talking about to Ian. Abigail, Riley, and I swam over to see what was going on as well. Engraved on the edges of the stone were the Greek symbols for "key". In the upper middle, "1872" was engraved. In the very center of the stone was a circle, with the center of the circle being a straight rectangular indentation, with the very center being much deeper than the rest. He pulled out the ankh from the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. He then whispered, "Could it really be that simple?"

"Haven't we heard that one before," Riley said, with a slight excited tone to his voice.

"The ankh is the key," Ben said as he slid the ankh into the indentation. He grabbed a hold of the loop at the top of the ankh, and twisted it. As soon as he did, rocks began to crumble, and Riley grabbed a hold of me as Ben grabbed Abigail; shielding us from any falling debris. Once everything settled, an opening, to what appeared to be a cave, was seen where all the rocks had been previously. We swam to the opening, only to find that, with how the cave was set up, there was no water in it, and the water from the ocean fell in like a waterfall. On the left side of the ledge that we stood on was a narrow pathway. We took off our diving masks, and we began cautiously walking across this narrow platform. Once we got to the end though, we walked through one last opening, only to find one of the most beautiful sights on the face of the planet…Atlantis!

Now, this is not like the Atlantis resort that you see pictures of in the Bahamas. This city had, what looked to be, at least a hundred buildings and structures in it. Every single one of these buildings were made from mostly solid diamonds, with the occasional gold or silver. The city was huge, and had everything you could ever need or want. They even had a manual silver elevator that would take you to a rocky area above the surface of the ocean. We walked through and explored the city, marveling at the different structures, and the beauty of them all.

Finally, Ben said, "Alright you guys, you go ahead and go up the elevator, and look for any boats that can get us ashore. I'll be up soon, and when I'm ready to come up, I'll yell up to Riley for him to bring the elevator down, and then bring me back up with it." We nodded as Abigail and I made our way toward the elevator. I turned around to find Riley whispering to Ben about something, and then running back to us with a weird facial expression, which he wouldn't explain to us. Once we got to the elevator and up it, Abigail and I watched for a ship, while Riley waited below with the elevator for Ben.


	18. Busted!

**Chapter 17: Busted!**

We waited for a ship, along with the guys for a half an hour. Finally, we heard a faint siren. Looking off in the distance, we see a Greek police boat. We sit and holler and wave, trying to get the captain's attention. Shortly after we got it to start coming our direction, Riley and Ben joined us on the rocks. Once the boat got close enough for us to see the passengers on deck, we realize that the passengers are American FBI, including Sadusky.

"Sadusky again knows way more than you would ever expect," Ben muttered. "He could probably find every treasure known to mankind if he really wanted to." Riley chuckled a little bit at that, as the boat got as close as it could to the rocks. The crew members let down a ladder; so we swam over to the boat and climbed in.

"So Ben," Sadusky began with his arms crossed, "I believe you have some explaining to do."

"Well," Ben responded, "we found Atlantis, but only after we got left behind by Liam and Ian Howe. They also kidnapped Hannah."

"Alright Ben," Sadusky said, "you know the drill. If you can direct me to where the Howe's are, you'll be off the hook…again."

"They're heading to Yellowstone National Park," Ben quickly replied.

"Well, let's go," Sadusky said as he gestured to the ship captain to head off to shore. And with that, we headed to shore to go and arrest the Howe's.

Upon getting to shore, we hopped into one of the rented vehicles that the FBI had. Then they drove us to the airport they landed their jet. We boarded that, and we took off for the thirteen and a half hour journey back to D.C.

We arrived at D.C. 3am. The pilot refueled the plane, and after he switched off with another pilot, took off for Montana and Yellowstone National Park. We arrived there at 5am, and headed straight to Yellowstone.

Sadusky had us stay with him and a small team of FBI agents at the front of the park, while the rest searched the park for Ian, Liam, and his men. Within an hour, we spotted Liam and his men coming into the park. However, Ian and Hannah were not with them. The FBI did detain Liam and his men, and Sadusky questioned them about Hannah and Ian's whereabouts. Upon that, Sadusky orders the other agents to put Liam in his men in the different vehicles, and that we were to go into his. Sadusky got in the driver's seat, and began explaining.

"So basically," Sadusky began, "Liam said that Ian had left the scene shortly after they got back into the States from Greece. He said that he again felt like this was a set up, and wasn't going to take the chance. Liam didn't listen, and that's why we found them at Yellowstone. He said that Hannah was in his apartment and where his apartment is, but that is all that he told me. So, she could be alive or dead; and in absolutely anyplace in his apartment, which is pretty big. I know a few people who live in the same apartment complex he does, and they are huge apartments. So there are a lot of places she could be."

I sighed in worry as Ben asked, "So we're heading to the airport to fly back to D.C. and to check out his apartment now?"

"Exactly," Sadusky replied. So with that, we headed back to the airport. We arrived there at 2pm, and then arrived back in D.C. at 5pm. Upon landing, we headed straight to Liam's apartment, as we had no clue what condition Hannah was in. We prayed the entire way that she would be ok.


	19. Rescuing Hannah

**Chapter 18: Rescuing Hannah**

Once we got to his apartment, a few agents that Sadusky brought along barged in first, to make sure that none of Liam's men; or even Ian, was still there. Once we were given the clear, the rest of us, along with Sadusky, searched the apartment for Hannah.

We never called out her name, figuring that she would have been gagged or had her mouth taped to prevent her from calling out for help. Ben lead the way in the search, looking in any small space or room that she could have been locked up in. Finally, he found a closet that had a lock on it. One of the FBI agents came over and broke the lock on the door, and we then opened it. It was a huge closet, but with no light. So Ben gave me his flashlight, and I lead the way into this closet.

Even with the flashlight, it was hard to see. There was stuff piled everywhere, so Hannah's hiding place would be blocked. So we searched behind everything. Finally, we found a pile of heavier clothes, blankets, and a few dumbbell weights that looked suspicious, as it was shaped odd; in my opinion. So we began uncovering this pile, which reached half way up the wall. At the bottom of this wall was Hannah, who was gagged, and tied up with duct tape on her wrists and ankles; but alive.

"Hannah!" I screamed in relief as I rolled her onto her back, and brought her into a semi sitting position. Ben and Riley undid her bindings, while I gently removed the gag from her mouth. Once the gag was out, she began gasping for air, and she looked back up at me with a relieved and thankful expression. I immediately gripped her in a hug and said, "Oh, thank goodness you're ok!" She squeezed me as hard as she could in return.


	20. Atlantis Aftermath

**So this chapter has nothing to do with the treasure for the most part, but it is a sweet little chapter that is necessary to my story plot and timeline. Enjoy!**

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**Chapter 19: Atlantis Aftermath**

After that episode, Sadusky took us back to our respective houses; Hannah staying with us until the following Friday. Abigail and I decided to take off for the following week, so we could rest up after our adventurous hunt. Considering that the news of Atlantis's discovery had been brodcasted, our boss didn't mind too much.

The following Tuesday, however, we got a call from the officials of Athens, offering us to come down for a discovery party, and to have an all-day boat ride around the location of Atlantis. They also would allow us to go dive and see Atlantis again too, since Hannah couldn't witness it when we found it originally. We accepted, and were on a plane heading for Greece Wednesday night.

Friday rolled around, and that morning we went out on the boat ride before the party that night. Hannah and I dove to go see Atlantis, leaving Ben, Abigail, and Riley up on the boat. We spent about an hour in the water, Hannah being awestruck as the rest of us were by Atlantis. We got back on board, and as the boat was pretty big, we were able to go and change into dry clothes below deck.

Once we got back on deck, we sat around and talked; while looking out at the beautiful view of the Mediterranean Sea. Ben seemed a little fidgety and even nervous; which confused me. However, Riley assured me that it probably was nothing to worry about, and I left it alone.

However, the reason for Ben's nervousness soon became apparent, as Ben stood up, and said, "Ok, I have something I would like to say." We all cocked our heads, and listened as Ben continued. "Abigail, I can honestly say that, from the moment I met you, I was attracted to you. Your love for history, hunger for adventure, and amazing personality are things I just love about you. We have a lot in common, and you're pretty amazing. I love you, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. So," Ben reached into his pocket, and pulled something out as he got down on one knee, "Abigail Diane Chase, will you marry me?" Ben slowly opened a small box, containing a diamond ring. But not just any diamond ring, it was a ring made with a diamond from Atlantis.

Abigail covered her mouth in overwhelming surprise, with tears streaming down her face. She quickly nodded her head, and barely choked out, "Yes!" Ben slipped the ring onto his new fiancé's finger, and stood to his feet as Abigail lunged on him and embraced him tightly. She pulled away a little before kissing him, and then pulled him again into a bone-crushing hug. It was one of the sweetest moments I have ever seen in my life.

After Ben popped the question, we went back to shore for the party. Abigail particularly enjoyed this one, since she got to show off her ring. Right after the party, we hopped on a plane to head back to D.C. (minus Hannah who went ahead and headed back to Tennessee). We landed, and after again congratulating Ben and Abigail on their engagement, Riley and I flew down to Florida for the rest of the weekend, and flew back up Sunday after church; with Chloe in tow. That evening, we had dinner at Addie's house, and brought the dogs home afterwards. I went back to work the next morning; Riley took up his "I-babysit-my-child-all-day" job again, and things went back to normal.

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**Review one last time?**


	21. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

"So you guys found Atlantis!?" Chloe said enthusiastically. "As in, the most famous treasure legend in the world?!"

"We sure did!" Riley said with a smile.

"And boy!" Chloe began. "Uncle Ben had the most awkward proposal ever!"

"You think your Uncle Ben's speech was bad," I began, "wait until you hear about your father's!"

"Hey!" Riley complained from his chair. "Romance is not my thing! And you had a year to figure that out before I even proposed to you!"

"I recognize that," I replied, "but that doesn't make it any less awkward." Riley glared at me from across the room, and I winked at him.

"Can I hear about it?" Chloe asked.

"That my dear," I began, "is another story for another day. You have a report to write."

"Fine," Chloe said as she gathered up her notes and walked upstairs.

"Now really," Riley asked once we heard Chloe's door shut upstairs, "was my proposal really _that_ awkward?"

"It was pretty darn awkward babe," I replied.

"Come on! I thought it out for months before I even proposed! Rehearsed it to a teddy bear, and had Ben review it before I finally proposed! Doesn't that count for something?"

"Yes, yes it does. Though simple, it was very sweet, and I was happy with it regardless," I said smiling.

"Well," Riley replied, "I guess that counts." I smiled and nodded before picking up my book and continuing to read again.


	22. Author's Note

**Alright guys! That's the end of the story! I hoped you guys enjoyed it! Now here are a few quick updates about what I plan on doing in the near future.**

**Within a week or so, I'll have to post a darker story. I will explain why in the author's note at the end of it (I do have a legitimate reason for it), but it is crucial to my story line. Unlike my last dark story though; this one is a part of my main story line, and whatever changes that happen in this upcoming story will remain in the rest of the stories that I write that occur chronologically after it. This story will probably be a multiple chapter story, but there is a slight possibility that it will be a one shot.**

**After that darker story though, I'm going to do a few oneshots (all of them happy; don't worry), before going down a romantic path for a little while ^.^ After that, I'll probably work on my fourth treasure hunt story. I may wait a little bit longer, if it looks like Disney will make a third movie; cause I would like to re-write it with me in it. That is, so long as they don't find any of the same treasures in the movie(;**

**As usual, feel free to PM me for ideas! I am always open to story ideas; especially if they are oneshots! So never hesitate to PM me if you have an idea! :D**

**Well…I hope to hear from you guys about ideas soon! Until then, God bless and have a great day!**

**-rottieluv77**


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